


And So the Storm Goes

by food_forever_Hufflepuff



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, I got the idea for the story before I read that bit of the comic, M/M, a bit canon divergent, but I still wanted to write it, but I swear it does have a happy ending, it seems kind of dark, just the bit where they tell the team about their relationship, ya feel?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-19 09:01:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12407301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/food_forever_Hufflepuff/pseuds/food_forever_Hufflepuff
Summary: “Wait! Go back!” Lardo’s exclamation sounded startled, breaking the playful atmosphere. Bitty pulled his oven mitts off and wandered into the living room to see what could have upset Lardo’s usually nonchalant demeanor. The TV had found rest on a local news channel that was reporting on a traffic backup on one of the highways that led into town.





	And So the Storm Goes

Bitty was in a fantastic mood, the kind of easy mood that even the thundering lightening and pouring rain could not dampen. It had been several weeks since he had last seen Jack, the mere thought of whom made him smile like a dope, even more so when he imagined the man at this very moment on his way to the Haus to whisk him off to a weekend of solitude and companionship. 

Taking one last glance at his reflection- casual, yet classy- he headed downstairs to grab the pie he had baked for Jack or, as the other member of SMH believed, for his cousin at Brown. As he passed through the living room, he noted a few of the guys on the couch, fighting over the remote channels flipping all the while. 

“We are not watching this.” Ransom’s voice carried into the kitchen. “This show is for girls!”

“Wow! Way to be totally sexist!”

“No, Holster, he’s right.” Lardo’s even tone brought a smile to Bitty’s face.

“Well, it’s better than his PBS-type shit,” Holster grumped.

The friendly squabbling and channel changing continued, creating pleasant background noise as Bitty pulled his pie out of the oven, setting it on the towel he’d set out on the table, turning to find the-

“Wait! Go back!” Lardo’s exclamation sounded startled, breaking the playful atmosphere. Bitty pulled his oven mitts off and wandered into the living room to see what could have upset Lardo’s usually nonchalant demeanor. The TV had found rest on a local news channel that was reporting on a traffic backup on one of the highways that led into town. 

“What?” Ransom and Holster both looked as confused as Bitty felt. 

“Wait. Wait just a second. I could have sworn- look there!” She interrupted herself, pointing at the television. 

Bitty felt his blood turn to ice in his veins. The cause of the traffic jam was being shown. Through the torrential downpour, a three-car pile up was seen, the third of which looked exactly like Jack’s car. But there was no way…

Ransom let out a quiet, nervous chuckle. “At least we know he wasn’t coming to Samwell to visit. He would have told us ahead of time.”

Bitty’s vision grew hazy. He managed to muffle his cry, at least he hoped he had, and he ran blindly up the stairs and to his room. He collapsed on the floor and, trying his best not to have a complete meltdown, pulled out his phone and called Jack.

Quiet. The only noises were his forced calm breathing and the phone ringing in his ear. Any moment now, he’d hear Jack’s cheerful voice: “Hey, Bitty.” Or if he was feeling frisky, “bonjour, mon petit chou.” And, either way, all would be right with the world.

All would be right with the world…

All would be-

“This is Jack Zimmerman, I can’t come to the phone right now, but-”

Bitty hung up and wiped furiously at his eyes with his sleeve, trying to dry the tears before they had a chance to fall. 

He called again.

And again.

And again. 

And he gave up. He cradled the phone to his chest, curled into a ball on the cold floor, and finally, finally, let out a choked sob.

The door opened and, almost silently, Lardo came in. She placed a gentle hand on his back, rubbing in small circles. Once his cries had died down, once he felt empty, she spoke. “Talk to me Bittle.” Despite the gentle tone, it was not a request.

“He was coming to see me.” He paused as one or two rough sobs escaped him. When he had once again brought his breathing somewhat under control, he continued, “Jack was coming to see me. I should have told him not to when the weather turned so awful, but I didn’t. I didn’t because I was stupid and selfish and now he’s gone and he won’t answer my calls and it’s all my fault.” He let go again, letting the sobs wrack his body, all control lost.

“Oh, Bitty…” she could barely whisper. Tears were stinging the corners of her eyes. He gave his shoulder one last squeeze before standing and going to the door. She opened it just enough to slip out. Ransom was waiting for her. He didn’t have to speak. The question was written on his face.

“Jack was coming to see Bitty.”

“No…”

Her hands were shaking as she took his and she could not hide the tremor in her voice as she instructed him, “Keep an eye on the news. Tell me if there are any changes. Try to call him. I’m going to stay with Bitty.” He nodded, giving her hands a gentle squeeze, and she left. She slipped back into the room and settled on the floor by Bitty. In the hallway, the sounds of the storm drowned out their sorrow. 

***

Ransom rejoined Holster on the couch and told him the news. They both sat in a silent state of shock, interrupted only by the rumble of thunder and rambling of the TV. Holster broke the trance to grab his phone and, after a moment, pressed it to his ear. Ransome watched in hopeful fascination. After a few beats of silence, Holster hung up, shaking his head. “We should try again soon.”

Lightening flashed, thunder shook the Haus, and Ransom and Holster took turns calling a friend they feared would never answered, though they would never admit it- even to themselves. All the while, the newscaster droned on and they carefully absorbed every word. This went on for some time. In moments of relative calm presented by the storm, they could very nearly hear the cries of their friends upstairs. They wished for the storm to drown it out again.

It was just after one of these quiet moments, just after the storm had started to pick up again, that they were startled from their stupor. Holster had just been about to make another call when a noise at the door caught their attention. Both froze. They exchanged a glance and Holster had just opened his mouth to suggest they had imagined it when it came again and this time, they were sure- it was a knock at the door. And still they sat frozen. Slowly, Ransom rose and walked to the door. Holster could only watch as, in one quick motion, he threw the door open.

“Sorry guys, I forgot my keys.” Chowder stood on the porch dripping wet. “Oh! Something smells good! Did Bitty make pie?” 

Holster groaned and Ransom breathed for the first time in what felt like ten minutes, but their chests still felt tight.

“Geez, what’s your problem?” Chowder chirped. “You both look like you somebody died!” If looks could kill… “Oh my god… Who is it? What happened? I was only kidding,” he stuttered to a stop.

“We think Jack was in an accident,” Ransom mumbled, returning to the couch as Chowder closed the door.

“Jack? Jack Zimmerman? Was he coming over? I-” he realized now was not the time for his excitement over Jack and finished with a quiet “oh…” He dropped his wet backpack by the door and moved to join the boys on the couch, but there was another knock at the door. Without even thinking, Chowder turned and opened the door. “Hey! How can we-” but he interrupted his own typical greeting with a shout: “Jack!”

Ransom and Holster, both of whom had carefully avoided looking at the door this time so as not to get their hopes up again, sprang from their seats and launched themselves at their friend with similar exclamations of surprise, joy, and relief.

“Oh. Hey guys.” Jack pulled away after a moment, raising his eyebrows in concern. “I’ve gotten like, fifty calls from you guys. What’s up?”

“We thought you were dead!” Ransom proclaimed. “Look, it looks just like your car!” He pulled Jack to stare at the TV which was still showing images of the traffic and the wreck that was causing the holdup. He looked on contemplatively for a moment before breaking the ecstatic atmosphere that surrounded him with a quiet “Where’s Bitty?”

“He’s in his room. Lardo is with him. He-” Ransom hadn’t even finished reporting Bittle’s status before Jack dashed off up the stairs.

***

Bitty still lay on the floor, Lardo’s hand still rested on his back, but he had long since run out of tears. He lay shaking, both too hot and too cold, ice in his stomach, unable to get his breathing to even out. He moved between eyes open and closed. Either way, all he could see was Jack’s smiling face, followed by images of the wreck. A wreck that was his fault. 

His eyes were closed when he heard his door quietly open and snap shut. Lardo let out a quiet gasp and the comforting weight of her hand was removed. There were whispers, but he didn’t want to hear. He covered his ears. After a few moments, the hand was returned. It was shaking him. Slowly, he opened his eyes and removed his hands from his ears.

“Bits.”

Bitty took one shuddering breath. “Jack.” It was almost a sigh. He threw himself into his boyfriend’s arms, sobbing with renewed force, but this time, tears of joy. In Jack’s arms, Bitty’s breathing finally began to return to normal. He was warm and safe. They both were. Thunder rumbled amiably in the distance. The storm was beginning to pass.

“Why didn’t you answer your phone? “He pulled back and glared at Jack as best he could with Jack’s large hands holding his still shaking ones, one thumb rubbing circles on his knuckles. Jack pulled a hand away to gently wipe away Bitty’s tears. He looked sheepish, though, and replied, “I left it in my bag in my trunk.” Bitty's mouth fell open and slowly, unbelievingly, he began to laugh. 

“This. All of this. Because you forgot you phone in the trunk?” He continued to laugh, relief making him light headed as well was light hearted. Jack blushed a little, but smiled seeing Bitty so quickly recovering his spirits.

“Come on,” he pulled Bitty to his feet and moved him to his bed. Jack grabbed a cup off a dress by Bitty’s bed, ducked into the hall and soon returned with the cup filled. "Drink.” He handed Bitty the water and waited for him to drink and compose himself. Once he had, Jack asked, “So, do you still want to go away this weekend, or…?”

“Oh, Jack, of course! I’m sorry, honey. In all the excitement, I very nearly forgot. Give me just a few minutes to get cleaned up and make sure I’ve got all my stuff packed. I’ll meet you downstairs, alright?”

Jack agreed and was about to leave when Bitty spoke again, “Oh, and honey?” Jack turned and Bits, on his tip-toes, wrapped his arms around his neck and kissed him. He pulled away and, with a wink, chirped “You kiss pretty good for a dead guy.” Jack laughed and headed downstairs.

***

Everyone was gathered downstairs by the door, laughing and joking, relief making everything seem that much more amusing. Jack entered the group, moving to stand by Lardo, his back to the door, facing the stairs. He entered the group to shouts of “Jack!” and “Dude, we’re super glad you’re not dead!” both of which made him chuckle.

“I feel kind of bad for making everyone freak out,” Lardo grinned ruefully. “I’m the one who pointed out the car,” she explained to Jack.

“You weren’t wrong, though. I think it was the same make and model as mine,” he reassured her.

“Well we weren’t worried at first,” Ransom said, “because we didn’t think you were on your way here, but then Bitty told us you were coming to visit him, so we-”

“Wait, why were you coming to see Bitty?” Holster’s question brought the conversation to a halt. All eyes were on Jack, who hesitated for a moment. In that moment, Bitty came to the top of the stairs, the strap of his bag over his shoulder. From his expression, Bitty had obviously heard the question. Jack’s steady gaze met Bitty’s wide-eyed stare.

“Because we’re dating. And I was coming to pick him up for the weekend.” As he spoke, Bitty gasped and a pleased, surprised smile crossed his face. He took the stairs two at a time to join them, moving around back to stand by Jack. Immediately, voices broke out, surprise and shouts of “I knew it!” from Ransom, and Lardo talking about calling Shitty, but Jack and Bitty hardly heard it, their attention so fully on each other.

“You ready?” Jack smiled at Bitty.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here. I thought you were dead for a better part of the evening. I have a whole lot of emotions to work though tonight.” Jack chuckled and, hand in hand, they left the Haus, content in the company of one another.

On the porch, Bitty stopped Jack and kissed him. It was gentle and chaste, but promised more, a lifetime more if Jack would have him. As they moved from the porch to Jack’s car, the stars shone overhead.

The storm had passed.


End file.
